News

Jobs Axe Announced For Council Workers

Wednesday October 10 2012

More budget cuts will mean up to 300 jobs could go at Barnsley Council in a move the leader brands as 'unavoidable.'

Coun Steve Houghton said there was no way of avoiding another round of redundancies as £16m of cuts is forced on it by the government.

He said: ''Three hundred jobs are at risk across all areas of the council though we will do everything we can to minimise the numbers.

''The unions know what the scale of the problem is and we will be working with them to ensure there is as much redeployment and voluntary redundancies as possible. At this stage we can't rule out an element of compulsory redundancies.''

Already there has been argument over draft proposals to axe school crossing controls across the borough which have now been removed from the agenda following protests led by Cabinet member Roy Miller.

The council has said that the newest cuts will bite into front line services that will affect local people - What services do you think could be cut? And what would you miss if it were axed?

why not start getting rid of the highest paid lackies,marvelous how the council can find 145 grand a year on a new chief exec,can manage to run the mayors car with its worth a bob or two numberplate.also lets mention the consultants,and the liason officers and the too many chiefs not enough indians statement is as true now as its ever been.anon

i feel so sorry for the 300 people who are now going to find theselves on jobseekers benefit. or as many working people call it,the lowlife,scrounging,lazy,druggie,gutter rats benefit that these ignorant people will now class you all as.this just proves the point ive been making for months.no ones job is safe,so instead of calling people have some compassion, these poor people have not chosen to be in this position but will find themselves classed as the scum of the earth by some very narrow minded workers.befrore opening your mouths to slate people on benefits just think on you could be next

Start by getting rid of some of the "waste of space" chiefs and leave the "workers" alone! There are far too many high paid not neccessary people in the council. When they cut jobs its always the lower paid neccessary ones to go!!!

I don't understand why they have weekly street cleaners around Doncaster Road, do the council really think that anybody round there cares how much rubbish there is? Scrap stupid services like that. And yes, I have lived there so I know that the majority of people round there don't care about anything other then drugs and alcohol.

Jes seems to be of the opinion that these poor people who are losing their jobs, have families to feed and have given years of service to the public are not entitled to redundancy payments. I find that really narrow minded. If it were a large private company throwing out 300 workers onto the scrap heap, everyone would be up in arms about it and hoping they get a fair redundancy settlement! Most Council workers get paid less than their equivalents in private companies. That was acceptable by them, as they thought they were getting job security with it. Why are the public so against council workers who are actually also (in the majority) Barnsley Citizens?
Les seems to think that the Council can just decide, all on it's own, to let the police deal with car parking issues. It was a Central Government decision to decriminalise car parking, so Local Councils have no choice but to carry out those duties, just like it was Central Government who decided that our Local Council should deal with stray dogs out of hours, when there are only 2 dog wardens to cover the whole Borough!
'Confused' thinks the Council should not bother to clean up after people because apparently no one in those areas cares what it looks or smells like! I am sure they would care when the vermin start infiltrating nearby houses and gardens, and then when not taken care of run rampage into houses and gardens further afield. Yes, lets have a vermin epidemic on top of everything else!! I think you definitely are 'confused' aren't you?
As for not cutting the higher paid jobs, does anyone who's commented on here actually know how many higher paid jobs there are in proportion to the lower paid ones? And of those, what percentage went in the last round of cuts? Probably not. If anyone who can comment on these things and actually state some facts, then I'd love to read them. Otherwise it's just a load of old twaddle, with people bemoaning things that they don't know enough about.

Getting back to the actual question as to what should be cut and what I would miss the most, Highways, traffic control and environmental services are the ones which would affect us the most. Local Authorities first came about in a response to a public health need. Everything else came on board afterwards. Basic health and hygiene services, and services which protect the vulnerable should be protected. Then it should be business support and economic growth. For me, the cultural services are a nice to have. I love culture, but if I had to see something go, it would be that. Those with the money can pay to get their cultural needs satisfied. Those who can't probably have more pressing needs to satisfy first.

Check out how much the Highways have wasted in the guise of Coun. Miller - would be interested to see how much it has cost we taxpayers to finally settle the Burton Road dispute(and how much WE have had to pay Wickes for the total incompetence of our Highways/Planning by trying to build on THEIR land!!) However, I'm sure the new Bus Lanes will prove an absolute Godsend to the residents of Burton Road - and the travelling public of Barnsley.

I don't know how he got the job (well I do as he's ex mayor), he definitely knows nothing about how highway infrastructure works - and has no clue about planning, being that his background is in printing at the old BXL/BP chemicals.
If this was private sector the the mess would have been sorted now as the council would have imposed heavy fines. The whole Burton Road "clean air corridor" has just highlights our councils inability to manage it's own projects efficiently this saga has been over 10 years in the making now.

after giving over 20 plus years service to barnsley council the last 3 years i have been threatened with redundancy and can with all honesty state that it is always the most vulnerable and the backbone workers that are threatened every year the men and women actualy digging the holes cutting the grass emptying the bins and cleaning the streets have been reduced and reduced while the ones desciding the cut backs and the so thought creme de la creme have always looked after themselves and there close working operatives,;they have got round things by creating false positions sideways moves etc to give false statistics. it wants somebody independent in to create a proper working pyramid structure 1 man to empty a litter bin and 20 behind the scenes telling him where and when and how to do it is disgaraceful keep the front line its them that actualy do the job